Commitment Anxiety
by Ziek Aramaik
Summary: College students Wally West and Artemis Crock have been living together for a while. One day Wally interrupts her studying to ask her a Very Important Question. "Will you marry me?"


It took Wally West a day or two to decide how to do it. He strongly considered something dramatic and grandiose - like taking her to the most beautiful scenery imaginable and really sweeping her off her feet. But then he decided that just wasn't _him_. Wally was the type of guy that was simple, blunt, to the point. Instead of standing on ceremony, he just came right out and asked.

Artemis Crock stared at him blankly for at least eight Mississippi-seconds by actual count.

Wally stared back, keeping his smile up but starting to feel uneasy the longer he counted in his head.

"What?" she finally said.

"Will you marry me?" he repeated just as cheerfully as before, pointing to the ring.

He interrupted her studying to ask, setting the little box right on top of her papers. Artemis continued staring in disbelief from across the table. It took her a while to convince herself that this was really happening. She didn't ask the impulsive questions like "Really?" or "Are you serious?" She relied on her own observational skills to tell her that this wasn't a prank and was an actual, literal, proposal.

Artemis looked Wally straight in the eye and answered him - simple, blunt, and to the point.

"No."

Wally stopped smiling. It was his turn to stare at her blankly. It was like his brain shut down for a few moments.

He wasn't disappointed or heartbroken. (That would come later.) Right now he was just confused.

"What?" he finally said.

"I said no," Artemis repeated just as plainly as before.

Wally had never heard of anyone who actually said no to a marriage proposal. That never happened on TV at least.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I'm not _ready_ to get married, you dope," she said defensively. Wally had known her long enough to tell the difference between Artemis' defensive shouting and her genuinely angry shouting. "We just started college for crying out loud!"

"Well, so? Students can get married. And my parents were our age when they got married."

Wally honestly didn't see the problem. He and Artemis loved each other, right? And they were living together anyway without any apparent problems. Why not take the final step and make things official?

"I'm not basing our relationship on what our parents did," Artemis said as she moved the ring in the box aside and started gathering up her papers and books. "And we are _not_ getting married."

She left the table walking briskly and with a hot face. Wally stayed behind dumbstruck for a moment or two before grabbing the tiny box and running after her.

"Wait! Are you mad? Are we breaking up?! I _thought_ things were going really well for us-"

"We're not breaking up, we're just not rushing things either," she shot back. "You may be okay with diving in headfirst and not caring about the consequences, but I'm not! Don't you remember how nervous I was when we first moved in together?"

"I remember that we _did_ move in together and you've been fine with it so far..."

"Wally, I love you - most of the time - but I am not ready for that level of commitment," Artemis said as she marched up the stairs.

"What commitment?" Wally asked as he followed her. "We try it out, and if it's that terrible, we get a divorce."

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. It was her "are you an idiot?" look.

"It _won't_ be that terrible, of course," he assured her.

Artemis resumed walking. "It is _way_ too soon for me to even _think_ about that stuff!"

Wally thought about this carefully. "So... What you're saying is... You're not against the _idea_ of marrying me, just the timing. That means there's hope for the future, right?"

"What part of 'it's too soon to think about' didn't you hear?" She shouted with a blush on her face.

They reached their shared bedroom, and Artemis struggled to open the door with her armful of studying tools.

"Geez, Artemis. I'm not saying we run out and elope right this minute. We can be 'engaged' for a while. We should see how it feels, and then-"

"NO ALREADY!" she cried with a face as red as his hair. Then she slammed the door in his face.

Wally stood there for a while, wondering if this meant he was sleeping on the couch tonight.

"Should I return the ring then?" he called through the door. Artemis didn't answer.

Inside the room, Artemis sat on the bed and opened her textbook, despite knowing there was no way she could ever concentrate now. "He forgets Valentine's Day three years in a row, then turns around and does this," she muttered quietly.


End file.
